SS Hell Cramp

Being banned outright by the UK and tagged a Video Nasty is something I would consider a good thing for a movies reputation, since being banned sorta makes a film more risqué and exciting to watch if you will. Of course, I don't mean a heartfelt romantic comedy with horsies would benefit from such a label, but horror and exploitation films falling victim to such censorship will certainly raise the interest eyebrow of most fans of those genres. Unfortunately, expectations can become high when watching a film of this ilk, and that can ultimately lead to disappointment if the movie doesn't fully live up to the hype built up by your own mind. 1977's Nazisploitation film SS Hell Camp (directed by: Luigi Batzella) falls into this outright banned category, which based off the title and genre, isn't really much of a surprise, now is it.

SS Hell camp (aka The Beast in Heat, La Bestia in Calore, and plenty more aka's) being called SS Hell Camp and also being a Nazisploitation film means that it has...well, Nazis in it. Nazis that are trying to create the "master race" led by SS officer, scientist, and sex deviant, Dr. Ellen Kratsch (Macha Magall), who's experimentation, results in the "not so Nazi" looking Man-Beast (Salvatore Baccaro) with the sex drive of a…well, mutated Man-Beast injected with aphrodisiacs. The Beast is of course as horny as a unicorn, and thanks to the ever so kind Dr. Kratsch, the Beast is allowed to have women in his cage. Unfortunately for the women, they aren't there to play some Super Nintendo and eat nacho chips (!), but to be raped by the raging sex Beast, as Dr. Kratsch and her crew of Nazi minions sit back and enjoy the show. Supposedly, the Beast is supposedly supposed to mate with his female cage guests, but instead looks like he's humping everything "but" their baby-making hole. Even worse is they end up dead in the process…brilliant idea for creating the master race isn't it?

As CRAZY! as all of that sounds, a good chunk of it happens right at the very beginning of the film. In this first 7 1/2 minutes of SS Hell Camp, you will be subject to: The Beast, a brief cock shot, a naked lady, poorly aimed rape, lesbianism, and of course, Nazis. Sheesh…I'm already worn out.

SS Hell Camp moves onto a group of Italian revolutionaries, that have been blowing up bridges, and just making general trouble for Nazi Captain Hardinghauser (Edilio Kim) and his Nazi regime. This is probably because Capt. HARDinghauser is to busy tossing some baby batter into (or onto) a beautiful undercover resistance fighter, instead of catching any of the freedom fighters and stopping them from further sabotage. All of this nonsense infuriates his superior officer who finds that Capt. Hard-on-hauser may need a little help with these Italian rebel do-gooders. In comes Dr. Kratsch to help Capt. Hard-in-you with his resistance problem, by lending her demeaning sexual based torture skills to pry out information from POW's.

That's pretty much what SS Hell Camp is all about, I mean, there really isn't much of a coherent plot at all, it almost feels like two different films from when you are with the revolutionaries, to when you’re with the Nazis…namely Dr. Kratsch. Since I'm talking (?) about how the film feels like two different movies, this may be a good time to go over the positive and the negative aspects of SS Hell Camp.

So, the rebellion segment of the story is boring and lame to the point of me not caring for getting into too many characters and their pointless plots. However, that's only the beginning of the tragedy that befalls anyone who decides to watch SS Hell Camp.

It isn't a badly shot film for the most part…I think? It was kinda hard to tell since a few of the battle scenes and some of the bigger Nazi stuff, is footage from the film "When the Bells Toll" (Quand Suona la Campana), a film directed by...get this…Luigi Batzella! What a small world!! So, this footage from a much better looking movie, with apparently a lot more cash, is poorly inter-cut into SS Hell Camp to make up for the lack of budget, and it's embarrassingly obvious to make things worse. It looks like the battle footage used is from a movie made 15 years earlier and then dragged through a straight row of warm taints. It doesn't look the same at all is what I'm trying to say. Even the battle action is really boring, with maybe only one fight scene towards the end that is slightly enjoyable.

I should also add that the dubbing in SS Hell Camp is some of the worst I have seen. It may not be as epic as saaay...something like Pieces, but it's pretty damn close. I guess the dubbing isn't all that important since the dialogue is also lackluster anyways. This could possibly have a lot to do with English translations and not the fault of the writers and filmmakers, but still, it is not good dude.

I guess I can move onto the good, well I guess better things about SS Hell Camp and more so, the things that are just there for regurgitation. Macha Magall is pretty good as Dr. Kratsch and is strangely attractive in a way. At times she is very pretty, at other times, namely when she is being sadistic, she looks like a sick and twisted Nazi sex fiend. She uses her sexuality and sadistic sexuality in general, as a device of torture to get information out of rebels. In one scene, Kratsch is showing HardONhumper how "she" goes about interrogating nude and chained male prisoners. She takes her top off (!) and starts kissing on and rubbing herself all over one of the male rebels, when another of the older rebels yells for her to "Please stop!" Kratsch does stop, but only to cut off the older rebel's dong! Dumb ass.

I also loved a scene when the village Priest Don Lorenzo played by the great Brad Harris, is being detained by Hard-dong-hauser and his cronies when the man of God yells out "Oh Dear Lord…Forgive me!!" And breaks free from the grip of a couple of Nazis that had him in custody and then proceeds to beat the shit out of almost all of them! It was such a great scene and even when the Nazis somehow find a way to re-detain him, he still finds a way to escape! It's awesome!

Now, earlier I was talking about movies that have a lot of hype behind them for being banned or whatever the case may be and how most do not really deliver on the high expectations. SS Hell Camp certainly delivers the goods in the "Wow…this movie's fucked up" department 100%. Along with the dong removal from a moment ago, SS Hell Camp also has a female rebel who after being raped by a Nazi, is then shot in her bologna sandwich. There's also the scene when the Nazis are attacking some of the Italian locals looking for rebels. A woman's baby is taken by the Nazi's, thrown up into the air, and then shot back down!

One of the most fucked scenes in SS Hell Camp for sure, is when Kratsch gets her hands on a large group of rebels; she gets a chance to really unleash her brand of sexual torture. Torture that would make the Marquis de Sade cringe mind you. In this pretty long scene, you see a ton of completely nude men and women (!), who are being tortured in various ways. One guy is hung upside down while being whipped and dunked into water, one of the female rebels is having her fingernails ripped out with pliers, another girl is having her stomach eaten by a couple of hungry rats that are suspiciously very similar looking to guinea pigs, and as all of this is happening, the Beast can be seen raping yet another victim in the background! This Beast rape is by far the strangest thing I have ever seen in a movie and I should preface that the women of SS Hell Camp are from a time well before "trimming." The Beast is done with his deed as it seems, when he then decides to start ripping the girl's pubes out and he begins to eat them! It's sooo gross and the pubes have little pieces of flesh in them! Blech. Made me think of a time when I was eating Thanksgiving dinner and I pulled a hair out of my mouth…how I didn't puke turkey up right there, I'll never know.

So yeah, SS Hell Camp definitely shows up for the prom in the shock department, completely decked out in straight up sleaze. I personally love me some sleaze, but some of the things in this film are a little much, but I did still kinda enjoy them to a certain extant…I guess. I just have to say that even with a huge abundance of sex, nudity, violence, and just straight Exploitation, SS Hell Camp is just too damn boring, and all of those things aren't enough to keep me interested. I could recommend this film to a fan of these types of films for no more than a rental, watch, and return, not a buy (unless it has killer extras!). You could maybe call it a must see for what it is, and to say you saw it, but otherwise it is a terrible film with almost no redeemable qualities whatsoever. Tread lightly lovely reader, tread lightly.